23 Truths As I Know Them Now!
Friday, March 21st, 2008A wise man can learn from the experience of other men, but a fool cannot learn even from his own. — Will Durant
What I have to say today is directly a function of what I know after 10 years as a co-founder of the American Society of Exercise Physiologists. You may think that I should have been aware of these things early on rather than later, but please believe me that such thinking is naïve.
1. Just because something makes sense doesn’t mean it will be adopted by intelligent people.
2. New ideas need unbelievable decades of time for change to occur.
3. You can create something special and under no circumstances does that mean they will come running.
4. Friends…please, you are lucky to have one friend who is willing to go down with you.
5. Nothing will prepare you for indifference from colleagues.
6. Anyone comfortable with what he or she is doing isn’t likely to join up with you.
7. Inertia is exactly what it means, especially among the academic types.
8. “This is the way we have done it” prevails even among the dead.
9. Politics and power are real competitors, often viewed as beyond the average person.
10. Professionalism requires serious work and commitment, even attitude.
11. Thinking critical and becoming your own leader are not easy.
12. Maintaining a positive outlook with a daring personality to believe in possibilities is a huge mindset.
13. Organizations are a dime a dozen, but the right culture and philosophy are rare as a diamond in your backyard.
14. The 21st century isn’t about exercise physiologists as healthcare professionals, although it should be!
15. Entrepreneurship and business opportunities are exciting topics for a few.
16. Concepts, issues, and challenges are seldom interesting headings for exercise physiologists.
17. Excellence…forget it, the sense of “what is success” is built on the path of least resistance.
18. Topics like hope, despair, and “where are the jobs” versus one more research publication on the same subject seldom raise heart rate.
19. Academic exercise physiologists aren’t aware that exercise science is a waste of time and tuition dollars.
20. Traditional mental models are more powerful than anyone could have imagined.
21. People don’t like to change what they think they know.
22. Educators need to unlearn existing mental models that are dysfunctional or just plain wrong.
23. Leadership is more about persistence and “staying the course” than position or charisma.